DEC Officer Report

PLANNING OFFICER REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Application No.: 20/00604/D Applicant: The Cue Zone IOM Proposal: Installation of signage Site Address: Former Southern Postal Delivery Office Ronaldsway Industrial Estate Ronaldsway Ballasalla Isle Of Man IM9 2AA Principal Planner: Miss S E Corlett Expected Decision Level: Officer Delegation Recommended Decision: Permitted Date of Recommendation: 21.07.2020 _________________________________________________________________

Conditions and Notes for Approval

C : Conditions for approval N : Notes attached to conditions

• C 1. The advertisement hereby granted consent shall be begun before the expiration of four years from the date of this notice. Reason: to avoid the accumulation of unimplemented advertisement consents.
• C 2. The advertising signage hereby permitted shall not be lit internally or externally unless an application seeking consent for such is submitted to and approved by the Department. Reason: In the interests of amenity

This application has been recommended for approval for the following reason. The application is considered to accord with General Policies 2 and 6 of the Strategic Plan.

Plans/Drawings/Information; This decision relates to the information and plans all received on 15th April, 2020. _______________________________________________________________

Interested Person Status

Additional Persons

None _____________________________________________________________________________

Officer’s Report THE SITE

1.1 The site is part of an existing building located within the Ronaldsway Industrial Estate opposite the Isle of Man Airport. The site also includes a car parking area to the north west which can accommodate around 15 cars off the highway. At the time of the site visit (a Saturday) there were no vehicles parked in this area despite a number of vehicles being parked on the estate road to the north east. - 1.2 The building has a complicated layout with a number of single storey additions added around the edge of the building with the main core taking the form of four mono-pitch roofed elements. The rest of the building wraps around this to the south west and south east. The steam railway line runs to the west of the car park. - 1.3 Access is from the A5 roundabout on the Castletown side of the Airport, past the hotel and industrial units and to this site where the estate road continues round in a loop to join the main estate road. - 1.4 The most recent use of this part of the building was as the Southern Post Delivery Office although the building is now used as a snooker, billiards and pool centre (see below). THE PROPOSAL

2.1 Proposed is the installation of signage in the form of a single sign to be positioned on the northern elevation of the building. The sign will be 2.4m by 1.2m square and fabricated from composite aluminium. PLANNING POLICY - 3.1 The site is designated on the Area Plan for the South adopted in 2013 as Industrial. The existing use to which the proposed signage relates is therefore contrary to this designation, although permission has been granted for it (see below).

3.2 The Control of Advertisements Regulations 2013 make it clear that the only considerations which can be applied to applications made under them are in the interests of amenity and public safety. In the case of amenity, such things as the general characteristics of the area need to be taken into account along with the presence of any features of historic, architectural, cultural or similar interest and the public safety should consider the safety of any person using a road, railway, tramway, harbour or aerodrome including the obscuration of any traffic sign or similar.

3.3 Due to the designation of the site and the nature of the application it is appropriate to consider the following polices of the Isle of Man Strategic Plan 2016: - 3.4 General Policy 2 states: "Development which is in accordance with the land-use zoning and proposals in the appropriate Area Plan and with other policies of this Strategic Plan will normally be permitted, provided that the development:

• (b) respects the site and surroundings in terms of the siting, layout, scale, form, design and landscaping of buildings and the spaces around them;
• (c) does not affect adversely the character of the surrounding landscape or townscape; (g) does not affect adversely the amenity of local residents or the character of the locality;

3.5 General Policy 6 states: 'Within our towns and villages, the display of external advertisements will be permitted on the site or building to which they relate provided they:

• (a) are of a high standard of design and materials and relate well to the building and site on which they are to be displayed;
• (b) are in keeping with and do not detract from the surrounding area; and
• (c) are located so as not to cause a highway safety hazard'.

3.6 General Policy 7 states: 'Within our towns and villages, the display of external advertisements on sites or buildings other than those to which they relate will not generally be permitted'.

PLANNING HISTORY

4.1 The site and wider building have been the subject of previous applications for alterations and extensions and including the use of another part of the complex as a family centre and nursery - 04/02006/B - approved but apparently no longer used for this purpose.

4.2 Of relevance is another previous application which proposed the use of a building to the north east as a bowling facility, restaurant and leisure facilities 10/00350/B and 07/00032/C to a family leisure centre. A further application for entertainment, leisure adn activities centre was refused in a unit alongside for the following reasons:

The proposed use is contrary to the land use designation on the Southern Area Plan. Whilst it is clear from the approval granted under PA 07/00032 that the principle of leisure uses on the estate is not necessarily unacceptable, in the absence of any information on the type of leisure uses proposed, it is not possible to assess whether the leisure uses proposed, and on the scale proposed are acceptable in this case and would not be detrimental to the use of the remainder of the industrial estate/business park. Also whilst it may be that some form of leisure uses could be considered acceptable on this site, the supporting information with the application is lacking in detail and substance such that it is not clear what type of activities will be undertaken on the site and as such, the level of use and how much parking will be required and how much can be provided such that the spaces will be accessible and usable. As such, it is not possible to conclude that the use could be satisfactorily accommodated on the site and as such, it is considered that the proposed use would be detrimental to the amenities of the area and the use of adjacent land for authorised or legitimate purposes due to potential car parking on the estate road and vehicular manoeuvring other than within the site (12/001388/C).

4.3 Planning approval was refused on the same site for a recycling facility due to the following reason:

Whilst the site lies within an area designated for Predominantly Industrial use on the Isle of Man Planning Scheme (Development Plan) Order 1982, the present character of the estate is light industrial and incorporates non-industrial uses such as the children's centre offices and nursery, the post office, the offices at Forrest House and the Sefton Express hotel, which has permission for a significant extension for additional bedrooms towards the application site. In addition, planning permission has been granted for the change of use of the adjacent warehouse to a leisure facility and permission has been granted in principle for a research and development and light industrial development on the land over which the new access is proposed. As such, the introduction of a waste recycling facility as is proposed in this application would introduce a heavier type of industrial use with the potential for noise, dust and heavy traffic nuisance to existing and potential authorised users of the estate (09/00138/B).

4.4 Planning approval was granted for the use of the premises as a snooker, pool and billiards hall under 19/00458/C.

REPRESENTATIONS

5.1 Malew Parish Commissioners have not commented at the time of writing.

5.2 Highway Services have no highway interest in the application (30.07.20). ASSESSMENT

6.1 The signage is modest and will have no adverse impact on the character and appearance of what is a basic industrial building, it may even add interest to this elevation. There is no illumination proposed. CONCLUSION - 7.1 The application is considered to accord with General Policies 2 and 6 and the application is supported. INTERESTED PERSON STATUS - 8.1 By virtue of the Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) Regulations 2013 (As Amended), the following persons are automatically interested persons:

• o The applicant, or if there is one, the applicant's agent;
• o Any Government Department that has made written submissions relating to planning considerations with respect to the application that the Department considers material;
• o The local authority in whose district the land the subject of the application is situated.
• o the Highways, Ports and Railways divisions of the Department of Infrastructure. 8.2 The decision maker must determine:
• o whether any other comments from Government Departments (other than those explicitly listed above) are material; and
• o whether there are other persons to those listed above who should be given Interested Person Status.

I can confirm that this decision has been made by the Director of Planning and Building Control in accordance with the authority afforded to that Officer by the appropriate DEFA Delegation.

Decision Made : Permitted Date : 07.08.2020 Determining officer Signed : J CHANCE Jennifer Chance Director of Planning and Building Control

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